Barton Gets Scoop on DTV

House Commerce Committee chairman Joe Barton (R-Texas), who last week promised legislation to speed the digital-TV transition, learned that the folks back home aren’t exactly confident that he’ll be successful.

At the Ennis, Tex., Best Buy near his house, he asked a salesmen whether one of those fancy plasma HDTVs would be a good buy.

Unaware of Barton’s identity, the salesmen informed him that Washington has the digital switch so messed up it’ll never happen. “I thought Congress was going to do something about that,” Barton queried. Forget it, the salesman said and directed him to a $300 analog model, which Barton bought.